Why RCB released Yuzvendra Chahal? Former coach Mike Hesson reveals

Yuzvendra Chahal was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.

Leg-spinner Yuvendra Chahal was one of the key member in the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp. Chahal had a great relationship with the franchise till 2021, but RCB’s decision to release him ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction in 2021 and not bidding for him in the auction soured the bond between the player and the franchise. Chahal represented Royal Challengers Bangalore for eight years in his IPL career.

Former RCB Director of Operations Mike Hesson revealed the entire episode that panned out ahead of the mega auction. Hesson revealed the chat which team had with Yuzvendra Chahal before taking a decision. Chahal is currently part of Rajasthan Royals. Chahal is currently discarded from India’s limited-overs side as well and has not played a game for India after August 2023.

Hesson reveals the entire episode

Former RCB Director of Operations revealed that the franchise decided to retain only three players ahead of the mega auction in 2021. Hesson during a chat with Cricket.com said, “I spoke to Yuzi (Yuzvendra Chahal) obviously when we did the initial retention and we only retained three players because we felt we wanted to try and buy back both Harshal Patel and Yuzi at the auction.”

Mike Hesson revealed that Chahal’s name came later in the auction and that is why RCB didn’t place a bid on him. Hesson added, “The fact that he couldn’t make the top two marquee lists at that time was ridiculous, the fact that he came in as number 65 on the auction list means that it was really difficult for us to guarantee we were going to get him.”

MIke Hesson also revealed that RCB had not much amount left and five other teams had enough bank balance to snatch Chahal from them. Hesson added, “For Chahal, we knew there were five other teams that had more money than us and if we let go of all the bowlers before that and then we got to bidding for Yuzi and everyone knew we were going for Yuzi and we didn’t get him, we could have got bullied by five other teams.”

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